Tea Party unseats US house majority leader in shock defeat

Derek Wallbank

Washington: US House majority leader Eric Cantor lost his re-election bid, falling to Tea Party challenger David Brat in a Virginia Republican primary in the biggest upset of this year's campaign.

Mr Cantor is the second-ranking House Republican and was considered the frontrunner to become the next House speaker. The loss is a stunning fall for Mr Cantor, 51, who was instrumental in the election of many of the Tea Party-backed candidates who handed Republicans their House majority in 2010.

Mr Brat, a Tea Party activist who earned a doctoral degree in economics from Princeton, had campaigned saying Mr Cantor was part of the Washington establishment. The seven-term House member from Richmond, Virginia, is the biggest Republican trophy the Tea Party has claimed since the movement began in 2010.

Tea Party candidate David Brat. Photo: AP

With 90 per cent of the precincts reporting, Mr Brat was ahead with 55.4 per cent of the vote compared with Mr Cantor's 44.6 per cent.

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"This rocks the Republican conference, for sure. Eric's been a fantastic leader and a good friend. It's a shocking, disappointing night," said representative Patrick McHenry, a North Carolina Republican.

Cantor is the only Jewish Republican in Congress and one of its most dominant fundraisers, including on Wall Street. He raised more than $US5.4 million for the 2014 campaign through May 21, compared with $US207,000 for Brat, Federal Election Commission disclosure reports show.

House majority whip Kevin McCarthy, of California, would be next in line and likely to make a play for majority leader, according to a senior Republican lawmaker.

House financial services chairman Jeb Hensarling, a favourite of the Club for Growth and other Tea Party-aligned groups has been expanding his political operation and might also seek Mr Cantor's post. Representative Paul Ryan, the 2012 Republican vice presidential nominee, is also considered a potential candidate for the post, the lawmaker said.